We are continually looking at how we can bring together education providers and employers to ensure the right person with the right skills gets the right job.
In conjunction with further and higher educational establishments, Skills for Health is supporting a number of Higher Education Demonstrator Sites (HEDS) to test and evaluate a range of workforce tools and competences.
We are already working with a number of universities across the UK to validate and deliver postgraduate modules on the use of competences which will support those who develop education to better incorporate competences in Higher Education awards.
Currently there are 12 Sites, some of which capture the interface between Higher Education, Further Education and the service, with more planned for the future. Skills for Health is supporting these by providing a series of training and awareness workshops highlighting how the competence tools can best be used to support education and employer-led demand for skills required to carry out identified roles.
Building on from that, an education pathway can be developed, ensuring that learning is structured and flexible - allowing a wider audience to participate.
As an example Skills for Health is supporting the partnership between the Cardiothoracic Centre - Liverpool NHS Trust and Liverpool John Moores University. They are developing a flexible, employer-led accredited learning and development framework for the cardiothoracic speciality. It consists of three strands - disease, diagnostics and treatment - and allows both employers and individuals to map their specific learning and development requirements.
The framework follows a patient's journey from development of the illness through to first point of contact within primary care, then from diagnosis to treatment. This will meet the needs of a range of healthcare professionals from all arenas including primary, secondary and tertiary care.
"The Cardiothoracic Centre - Liverpool NHS Trust in conjunction with Liverpool John Moores University have developed a framework of service led, flexible ‘bite sized' five credit modules of CPD to support learning and development in cardiothoracics. We have followed the learning design principles set by Skills for Health in order to create a new and innovative way of undertaking accredited learning. The key to our success has been through development of a successful partnership between the Trust and HE provider. The Cardiothoracic CPD framework is due to be validated in March 2008 with programmes commencing in the summer."
Steven Colfar
Clinical Practice Facilitator, CTC, Liverpool
